Hello Friends,
Today, let’s look at what was at the core of Jesus’ ministry: preaching the Gospel.
Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, and saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
— Mark 1:14–15
We begin by seeing this reference to John the Baptist’s incarceration. This event happened under the rule of Herod, who was displeased by John’s preaching, particularly when John spoke against the sin of adultery since Herod had taken his brother’s wife.
For when Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip.
For John had been saying to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.”
— Matthew 14:3–4
Immediately, we see the nature of John’s gospel. John was not one to shy away from controversy, especially if it meant he could proclaim the truth. This kind of preaching is not very common today. As believers, we are often told in our modern day that we need to update the gospel to fit our contemporary context. Even in churches today, it is very unpopular to speak about and confront sin. Because of this, we see an increase in immorality in our pulpits. This is what the Apostle Paul alluded to when he wrote to Timothy:
For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths.
— 2 Timothy 4:3–4
John the Baptist was not one to compromise the truth of the gospel. He made sure to address the real issue of man’s fallenness, which is sin—sin that separates man from God and delivers him into the hands of the devil. This is a very tough pill to swallow. John MacArthur rightly states:
“Soft preaching produces hard hearts, and hard preaching produces soft hearts.”
— John MacArthur
John was unapologetic about confronting sin, and this was the case with Herod. Even though John knew the kind of authority Herod had and the danger he would be in if he got on the bad side of this man, still, this did not persuade him to back down from proclaiming the truth for the sake of Herod’s salvation.
This should cause us as believers to think hard about the compromises we may find ourselves making for the sake of maintaining relationships or keeping a false peace, while we watch the people God so lovingly placed in our lives perish in the muck of sin and enmity toward God.
We should remember, as previously mentioned in our devotions, that there’s no luck, chance, or accidents with God. The people in our lives are there for a reason. God put them there.
When Jesus was asked by His disciples what the greatest commandment is, He simply said that all commandments are summed up in these two: to love God and to love our neighbors. We should be careful not to fall into the folly of the Pharisees, who thought their neighbors were only those like them. Rather, we should understand that every soul that comes across our path was put there by God, and we have a divine responsibility to share the gospel with them.
Such was the case with Jesus, as Mark states, “Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God.” Following John the Baptist’s ministry, which was meant to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry, Jesus came preaching the same thing that John was preaching—the Gospel of God.
It is important to take a closer look at the naming of this gospel. The word gospel simply means “good news.” Therefore, what Jesus came preaching was basically “Good News of God.” Notice that it is not the gospel of man; it is the gospel of God. This is the good news of God, not the good news of men. This is to say, the gospel is about God.
Let’s beware of the man-centered gospel that is being spread out there like wildfire. Let’s be careful about the gospel that says it is all about man, wealth, health, and prosperity. Such a gospel puts God aside and basically has man seeing God as a means to an end, instead of the other way around. That kind of gospel is the kind Satan preached to Eve in the garden—a gospel that goes against the word of God and instead promises to fulfill the desires of fallen man. Concerning this gospel, Paul says it is not even a gospel—that is, it’s not really good news when you think about it because it actually sends people to hell:
I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting Him who called you by the grace of Christ, for a different gospel; which is really not another; only there are some who are disturbing you and want to distort the gospel of Christ.
— Galatians 1:6–7
Let’s look at the content of the gospel of God that Jesus was preaching. Jesus sums it up in this one phrase that Mark records. Granted, there might have been many other words that Jesus preached, but here we see a summary that covers the main points of His message:
“The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”
Jesus draws attention to the urgency of the gospel. That is, the time is now—we are running out of time. The time is fulfilled. This fulfillment is in the sense that this was the salvation prophesied long ago, and now it has come to fruition. Jesus is telling His listeners, the time is now.
The kingdom of God is at hand. Again, He emphasizes the urgency of the matter—God is here among you; you don’t have much time to waste.
Repent; that is, turn away from your sin. You should realize that none of you will be spared—you have all fallen short of the glory of God. You need to turn from your ways. You can’t save yourselves; you need to turn to Christ, your salvation.
Believe—this is the other side of the coin. As you turn away from sin, you turn towards God. As you turn towards God, you turn away from sin. Place your trust in Jesus for salvation, redemption, righteousness, and the atonement for your sins.
Such was the Gospel of God. It is good news about God; it is the good news of God. It identifies man as a fallen sinner unable to save himself. The gospel points man to God, who takes his sins away. The gospel shows how it is by means of faith that man can receive salvation, and this faith is only to be placed in Jesus Christ’s sinless life, sacrificial death, and resurrection—believing that Jesus is indeed the Son of God and is Himself God incarnate.
I pray that this message of the Gospel by Jesus Christ Himself encourages us to confront sin and preach the gospel in all its truth.
Peace be upon you.
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